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Taiwanese prefer
independence over unification: survey
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Given the option independence or unification with China, a majority of Taiwanese
prefer independence over unification, an opinion poll released yesterday showed.
Asked about their position on cross-strait relations, 66 percent of respondents
supported the “status quo,” 24 percent wanted independence and 7 percent
supported unification with China, according to the survey conducted by cable
news channel TVBS between Thursday last week and Monday.
However, the poll found that most respondents favored independence over
unification if they were asked to choose between just those two options, with 71
percent supporting independence and only 18 percent supporting unification with
China.
With regards to identity, 78 percent of those polled identified themselves as
Taiwanese, while 13 percent saw themselves as Chinese.
The respondents’ opinions on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) recent remarks on
Double Ten National Day, when he claimed that “people on both sides of the
Taiwan Strait belong to the Zonghua minzu” (中華民族), appeared to be split, with 44
percent agreeing with the description and 42 percent opposing it.
A further breakdown suggested that the respondents’ position followed their
political affiliation, with 66 percent of those who identified themselves as
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters saying that they disagreed with
the comment and 67 percent of those supporting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
backing Ma’s remark.
However, most people found that Ma’s other comment — that cross-strait relations
are not international relations — was unacceptable, with 66 percent not
supporting the assertion and 20 percent supportive.
The survey, conducted by the TVBS poll center, collected 1,075 valid samples and
had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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